Will this be the year an Eastern Bay side takes out Tai Mitchell or will the main sides like Te Puke, Rotorua Gold and Tauranga West continue to dominate?

Galatea, Ōpōtiki, Whakatāne and Rangitaiki will be battling it out against Tauranga North, Tauranga East, Te Puke, Tauranga West, Rotorua Gold, Rotorua Maroon, seeking bragging rights at the tournament running from today until Sunday at Rotorua Boys’ High School.

Whakatāne boys’ coach Mark Pouwhare said they had enjoyed a good build up to the tournament.

“We are looking all right. We’ve had a good pre-season and are hoping to make the top four again this year.

“We have a good mix of young and experienced players. Hopefully, they play to their full potential come the start of the tournament.”

He expects one of the Tauranga teams to be the favourites but said anything could happen once the competition began.

“Tauranga West are shaping as the team to look out for, but what I know from experience is anything can happen at tournament.”

First, Whakatāne tackle Rotorua Maroon in what should be a good battle.

Ōpōtiki Boys Tai Mitchell coach Kevin Waterson said they were keeping things simple for the tournament.

“The boys are looking forward to a strong start to the tournament and working on individual achievements as well as improving as a team in general. Pool play sees us up against local rivals Whakatāne, who achieved an impressive third place last year, and defending champs Te Puke, who didn’t concede a point all tournament.

“We hope to put up some quality competition rugby against these teams.”

While the boys want to have fun and play some good rugby, they’re focused on doing better than 2024.

“We are aiming to improve on last year’s eighth placing, but ultimately the boys have set a goal for top four, and we have the confidence they’ll try their best to crack it but also turn a few heads in the process.”

He said they have a good tough game first against a team they battled strongly with in 2024.

“Our opening game is against Galatea at 2.30pm, whom we drew with for 7th and 8th place last year, so we want to beat them.”

Rangitaiki come into the tournament off a solid pre-season with some returning players from last year.

They’ll be targeting an improvement on 2024 when they finished 10th.  

After Rotorua Maroon, Whakatāne plays Tauranga North, Ōpōtiki, Rangitaiki and Tauranga West to finish pool play.

Rangitaiki’s other matches include Gold, Galatea, Tauranga East and defending champions Te Puke.

Ōpōtiki do battle against Galatea, East, Te Puke and Rotorua Gold along with Whakatāne.

Galatea line up against Ōpōtiki, Rangitaiki, Tauranga West, Rotorua Maroon and Tauranga North.

If there’s anybody who can bring the competition home for the Eastern Bay, it’s one of the three girls teams competing.

The Whakatāne and Rangitaiki teams include members from the unbeaten Rangitaiki girls’ team in the EBOP club competition, so should be competitive, while Ōpōtiki have some talented up and coming female rugby stars.

In the girls’ division, Whakatāne face Te Puke, before doing battle with rivals Rangitaiki the following day, followed by a bye. They then challenge Ōpōtiki and Tauranga North to round out pool play.

Rangitaiki jostle Rotorua Maroon first before a grudge match with Whakatāne the next day. That is followed by Tauranga East, Tauranga West and Rotorua Gold to finish.

Ōpōtiki battle Maroon before a clash against Rotorua Gold.

The final day of pool play sees them face Whakatāne and then Tauranga West.

Following pool play there are finals, before tournament teams are named for a series of matches.